EU fails to agree on cap on gas prices after 11 hour summit

European Union leaders have failed to reach an agreement on a plan to help protect their citizens from surging energy prices, despite hours of wrangling at a summit in Brussels.

The group’s leaders emerged from their second summit in as many weeks at about 2am in Brussels (00:00 GMT) with a “roadmap” to agreeing on a set of measures to lower energy bills, which have soared as a result of Russia’s spop in Ukraine.

While the announcement of the summit text made a public show of unity among the 27 member states, the absence of any decision on capping gas prices indicated negotiations would remain difficult.

“We do now have a very good and solid roadmap to keep on working on the topic of energy prices,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in the early hours of Friday morning.

No timeframe was given on when a decision on price caps would be made, with EU energy ministers due to meet in Luxembourg on Tuesday for further discussions.